diff --git a/README.asciidoc b/README.asciidoc
index 2915621b6..e7dab4504 100644
--- a/README.asciidoc
+++ b/README.asciidoc
@@ -488,6 +488,7 @@ Basic Commands
  * `source <filename>`: execute commands in <filename>
  * `runtime <filename>`: execute commands in <filename>, <filename>
       is relative to kak executable path.
+ * `colorscheme <name>`: load named colorscheme.
  * `nameclient <name>`: set current client name
  * `namebuf <name>`: set current buffer name
  * `echo <text>`: show <text> in status line
diff --git a/colors/zenburn.kak b/colors/zenburn.kak
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c092cbe15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/colors/zenburn.kak
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+# zenburn theme
+
+# first we define the zenburn colors as faces
+face zenbackground   default,rgb:3f3f3f
+face zenstatus       rgb:efdcbc,rgb:2a2a2a
+face zeninfo         rgb:cc9393,rgb:2a2a2a
+face zenmenubg       rgb:7f9f7f,rgb:4a4a4a
+face zenmenufg       rgb:8cd0d3,rgb:4a4a4a
+face zentext         rgb:efefef
+face zenkeyword      rgb:f0dfaf+b
+face zenstorageClass rgb:c3bf9f+b
+face zennumber       rgb:8cd0d3
+face zencomment      rgb:7f9f7f
+face zenconstant     rgb:dca3a3+b
+face zenspecial      rgb:cfbfaf
+face zenfunction     rgb:efef8f
+face zenstatement    rgb:e3ceab
+face zenidentifier   rgb:efdcbc
+face zentype         rgb:dfdfbf
+face zenstring       rgb:cc9393
+face zenexception    rgb:c3bf9f+b
+face zenmatching     rgb:3f3f3f,rgb:8cd0d3
+
+# then we map them to code
+face value zenconstant
+face type zentype
+face identifier zenidentifier
+face string zenstring
+face error zenexception
+face keyword zenkeyword
+face operator zenfunction
+face attribute zenstatement
+face comment zencomment
+face meta zenspecial
+
+# and markup
+face title zenkeyword
+face header zenconstant
+face bold zenstorageClass
+face italic zenfunction
+face mono zennumber
+face block zenstatement
+face link zenstring
+face bullet zenidentifier
+face list zentype
+
+# and built in faces
+face Default zenbackground
+face StatusLine zenstatus
+face Information zeninfo
+face MenuBackground zenmenubg
+face MenuForeground zenmenufg
diff --git a/rc/kakrc.kak b/rc/kakrc.kak
index fe6a6df8d..0d423cece 100644
--- a/rc/kakrc.kak
+++ b/rc/kakrc.kak
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ addhl -group / regions -default code kakrc \
     single_string %{(^|\h)'} %{(?<!\\)(\\\\)*'} '' \
     shell '%sh\{' '\}' '\{'
 
-addhl -group /kakrc/code regex \<(hook|rmhooks|addhl|rmhl|exec|eval|source|runtime|def|alias|unalias|decl|echo|edit|set|map|face|prompt|menu|info|try|catch|nameclient|namebuf|cd)\> 0:keyword
+addhl -group /kakrc/code regex \<(hook|rmhooks|addhl|rmhl|exec|eval|source|runtime|def|alias|unalias|decl|echo|edit|set|map|face|prompt|menu|info|try|catch|nameclient|namebuf|cd|colorscheme)\> 0:keyword
 addhl -group /kakrc/code regex \<(default|black|red|green|yellow|blue|magenta|cyan|white|(?:rgb:[0-9a-fA-F]{6}))\> 0:value
 addhl -group /kakrc/code regex (?:\<hook)\h+(?:(global|buffer|window)|(\S+))\h+(\S+)\h+(\S+)? 1:attribute 2:error 3:identifier 4:string
 addhl -group /kakrc/code regex (?:\<set)\h+(?:(global|buffer|window)|(\S+))\h+(\S+)\h+(\S+)? 1:attribute 2:error 3:identifier 4:string
diff --git a/share/kak/colors b/share/kak/colors
new file mode 120000
index 000000000..daf99fdc4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/share/kak/colors
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../../colors
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/share/kak/kakrc b/share/kak/kakrc
index 38a15b8f8..beccc2844 100644
--- a/share/kak/kakrc
+++ b/share/kak/kakrc
@@ -30,6 +30,23 @@ def -shell-params runtime %{ %sh{
     done
 }}
 
+def -shell-params -docstring "colorscheme <name>: enable named colorscheme" \
+  -shell-completion %{
+    prefix=${1:0:${kak_pos_in_token}}
+    (
+      for col in ${kak_runtime}/colors/*.kak; do
+          expr $(basename "${col}" .kak) : "^\(${prefix}.*\)$"
+      done
+    ) | grep -v '^$'
+  } \
+  colorscheme %{ %sh{
+    if [ $# -eq 1 ]; then
+        echo "source '${kak_runtime}/colors/$1.kak'"
+    else
+        echo -color Error 'Usage: colorscheme <scheme name>'
+    fi
+}}
+
 %sh{
     autoload() {
         dir=$1